Welcome to the official blog for Expedition 13A. We'll be keeping you posted on all the happenings of life on expedition from 10th January to 11th April. Check back and please send us your comments, it's free and easy. ¡Pura vida!

Monday, 25 June 2012

We've got a cunning plan...

So, the
PPVers have returned from their projects! The last couple of days have entailed
groups of weary-and-smelly-but-happy groups bursting through to the door greeted
by big hugs, then spilling their stories of meeting rangers, jumping off piers
and planning jungle camps. Thousands of miles have been covered between the
groups and we’re all getting excited about getting stuck in once the Venturers
arrive.

Here’s a
rundown of the Alpha group Project Planning Visits (Delta to follow!)

Alpha 1 PMs took
a practice walk of days 4 to 6 of the Coast to Coast Trek, starting at El Barbilla
National Park in Costa Rica,walking through the jungle into a beautiful valley where they
stayed with the indigenous community there, eating an amazing local breakfast
of rice and beans while watching the sun rise. Jealous, moi? They then drove
through days 7, 8, 9 and 10 of the route, finishing around the Tepanti area,
visiting Pejibaye. A mere snippet of what will be an amazing trek, taking everyone
who walks it on an amazing physical and emotional journey they'll remember forever.

Coast to Coast sunrise

Alpha 2 took
a bus up to Nicaragua to walk the end of the Miratombo trek, and straight away started hiking up to the top of Volcan Cerro, a new and unique volcano that is made of
black sand. They then went onto Volcan El Hoyo, part of The Hole, a huge
natural sink hole made up of several volcanic structures – and then finished
off by heading towards Cerra Asososca and down to the Laguna, which is the end
point of the trek. A trek full of ups and downs , quite literally, and the
group will be staying with various indigenous families and in community centres
with a bit of glamping thrown in for good measure!

Alpha 3
(i.e. we!) went to Volcan Tenorio National Park and were completely wowed by
the stunning Rio Celeste waterfall and turquoise waters – jaw-droppingly
beautiful. After playing football with the rangers and site workers on Day 1
(in hiking boots!), we started the next day on the work site, planning the work
for the Venturers to do – carrying materials, restoring tourist trails,
building the staircase to the waterfall and perhaps helping to create a rockery
garden by the ranger station. We also
planned out where we would set up Jungle Camp - a basha village 1.5km from the
waterfall which the Venturers will build when they arrive. Mucho exciting, and
the rangers and workers were fantastic, so we're really looking forward to working
there!

Cascada de Rio Celeste

Kickabout with the rangers

Alpha 4 took
a 2 hour bus followed by speedboat to stunning San Lucas island and the new National
Wildlife Refuge – transformed from an old converted Alcatraz-style prison into
a diverse eco paradise. They planned out
the work they and the Venturers will be doing - working on the paths and
welcome area to make them more accessible and attractive to tourists, thus generating
much-needed income to keep the park alive and free from poachers. They also met
some new friends in the form of noisy howler monkeys and brightly coloured
crabs, but luckily they didn’t meet the local sting-rays when they leapt off
the pier into the sea!

San Lucas Island

Sonal and Lottie making plans...

Alpha 5 headed on a short journey
(!) to the north of Nicaragua to a tiny remote area called Achuapa – one of the
poorest areas in Nica that was devastated by Hurricane Mitch 13 years ago. After a 7km uphill trek, they found the
village and scoped out the project which is to build a gravity water feed
system, providing clean safe water to 66 families in the area – fulfilling one
of the key UN Millenium Development Goals. They also visited the Co-operative
La Paz Silva and met the secretary to discuss how they would work together on
the project. Some amazing coffee and amazing views over the valley softened the
7km trek back again!

Alpha 6 went on an equally short
journey to Las Lagunetas in Nicaragua – and as soon as they arrived (after around 13
hours on the road!) they met Edwin and Sylvia from U.C.A. Miraflor, the project
partners. Sylvia heralds from the community benefitting from the project, which
is to build a brand new pre-school, so it’s very close to home for her – in
fact the PMs stayed with Sylvia’s mum so it got even closer! The Venturers will
be doing similar home stays, and have ‘chickens dropping from trees onto the
tin roof’ to look forward to as an alarm to wake them up at 5pm (apparently!). After sorting out materials, working hours and
visiting the school to a warm welcome, they started the long journey home.

The groups are just choosing their best pics, so more to come!

We can’t wait for the Venturers
to get here so we can get cracking...a few more days of training and cleaning
before the big arrival day. Good luck guys with your final preparations – y hasta
pronto!

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The 13A Expedition blog

Welcome to the Raleigh blog for Costa Rica and Nicaragua. You can view our posts, videos and photos (click on them to enlarge) and browse through our blog archive. Let us know what you think and you can also send messages to your loved ones and friends and we'll pass them on when we visit the project sites. So dive in and explore...

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Raleigh Lingo

Copy that?

Sometimes our Raleigh technical terms can be a tad confusing so we've put together a glossary for you blog followers. This will appear as a quick-reference section on the right-hand column so you can translate our Tico-terms into something a bit more palatable. And for those keen to brush up their Central American Spanish, we've included some handy translations. Here's a few to get you started...

Alpha, X-Ray and Zulu groups(Grupos Alfa, X-Ray y Zulu)The official name for project groups during the phases of CR&N 13A. Alpha will be out on project from 3rd to 23rd February, X-Ray from 24th February to 15th March and Zulu from 17th March to 5th April. Project groups are allocated during induction

BashaJungle ‘bed’: consists of a tarpaulin for shelter, a hammock and mosquito net. A basha is hung up between two trees and supported by rope, bamboo and canvas straps

BodegaA Spanish word meaning store or warehouse

BravoA term of endearment for our hard-working Land Rovers. The four vehicles are officially, and imaginatively named Bravo One, Two, Three and Four

C.A.T.I.E.The agricultural and development research institute on whose campus Fieldbase is situated. Find out more at http://www.catie.ac.cr/

Changeover (Cambio de Fase)Two day period where all staff and Venturers return from their project sites for some respite before they are all reallocated and sent off to do it all over again...

Chicas, ChicosSpanish term meaning girls (chicas) or guys (chicos) or both (chicos aswell). As in “Vamonos chicos!” or “Let’s go guys!”

Craic A way to gauge how people are feeling, usually measured from 0 to 90. If your ‘craic’ is high, you’re pretty happy. If you announce a low craic, people will probably fix you up with an energy bomb and a nice big hug

CR&N 13ACosta Rica and Nicaragua expeditions 13A

Day Leader (DL) (Líder del día)Every day on project, one of the Team is designated DL – they are in charge of the day, including organising the day’s briefing, keeping group morale up, dealing with any problems, sticking to schedule and de-briefing at the end of the day. The DL role rotates round the whole group so everyone takes a turn

Energizer (Actividad Levanta Muertos)An activity to gather the group together and raise energy levels. Can be used at the beginning of the day, or whenever a quick pick-me-up is required

Energy bombs (Explosión de azucar)A trekking treat – mix together oats, raisins, condensed milk and chocolate powder and roll into little balls of gooey goodness to power you through the day

Fieldbase (FB) (Campo Base)Refers to the Raleigh ‘office residence’ which is where the Fieldbase staff eat, sleep and work, whilst organising the expedition, manning the radios round the clock, supporting the projects, planning transport and logistics, keeping tabs on the finances and much, much more

Field Base Volunteer Managers (Equipo Logístico Voluntario del Campo Base)Volunteer support staff for the expedition. The team looks after the ‘behind the scenes’ of the expedition and ensures everything runs smoothly. This consists of three permanent staff members - the Country Director, Country Project Manager and Country Expedition Manager - plus a team of volunteer staff including the, Medic, Photographer, Administrator, Finance Officer, three Logistics (logs) team members and the Communications Officer

Longdrop (Letrina)The camp loo. Literally a deep hole in the ground, it is one of the first tasks to complete when setting up jungle camp for obvious reasons! Short drops are similar, normally used for overnight stops when a shallower trench will suffice

Longs (Pantalones)From 6pm onwards, we all don long trousers and sleeves to discourage the bugs that aren’t deterred by DEET

MaxisShort for Maxi Pali, the stock-everything shop about a kilometer from Fieldbase where you can buy all those things you forgot/ran out of/lost

NicasAn affectionate term referring to the native population of Nicaragua

NinjaA popular game/energizer used by venturers and Project managers alike. Everyone stands in a circle and tries to hit the team members either side of them on the hand via a single ninja movements. Sound effects welcome

POPSLegendary milkshake and ice-cream parlour chain found all over Costa Rica – perfect for a sweet splurge

Pork and beans (Frijoles con cerdo)Another staple foodstuff for trekkers: tinned beans with a slightly sausage twang, served cold for lunch. Usually accompanied by dry cracker dust, sprinkled liberally on to the top. If you’re in a hurry, this can be consumed without cutlery straight from the can

Project Managers (PMs) (Guías)Project staff for the expedition. Each of the groups has at least two PMs who work with the Venturers to develop skills, lead projects and challenge themselves

Radio check (Chequeo de Radio)As well as a daily SITREP, all Alpha projects are required to complete a second radio call-in each day to check in, receive messages and report any developments

Review (Revisión)A round-up that assesses how everyone feels, what went well and what needs work. This is sometimes an ‘activity’, sometimes a chat around the campfire, or sometimes just a bit of time to reflect. It’s an important part of everyone’s personal development so we make sure it happens every day

Roadtrip (Paseo Volando Rueda)The logistics team and some of the Field Base team drive the Bravos on a loop round to each of the accessible project sites once per phase. They deliver kit, supplies, site visitors, messages from the blog and of course the all important post

Ropa AmericanaPurveyors of the finest second hand American threads. Perfect for fancy dress/obtaining that long coveted college sports jersey

SITREP (Reporte de la Situación)Literally Situation Report. A special radio message sent from the satellite project sites back to fieldbase once a day. It follows a certain format and includes all sort of handy information like where they are, what they’ve been up to, what they need and what they’re planning to do next

TangA fruity powder that is used to make squash. Jolly useful for taking away the chlorine taste of purified water

TicosAn affectionate term referring to the native population of Costa Rica

Venturers (Aventureros)Participants in the Raleigh expedition. Aged 17 to 24, they come in three varieties: Host Country Venturers (from Costa Rica and Nicaragua), Partnership Venturers (positive young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in the UK who participate in Raleigh expeditions as part of a longer term development programme) and UK and International Fundraising Participants (who work hard to raise money to contribute towards the charities work and expenses in order to take part in the expedition)

Wash up (Revisión Final)The last few days of expedition, spent debriefing, returning equipment, performing skits, and most importantly enjoying the farewell party (tears alert)

Zero (Cero)A radio term that identifies the radio controller at Fieldbase. Fieldbase monitors the radios 24-7, listening out on three frequencies for calls from our satellite project sites. When the radio alarm sounds, we might answer something like this: “Hello unknown call sign, hello unknown call sign, this is Zero, this is zero, do you copy, OVER?”